Connection-counter for telephone-lines.



y F. R. McBERTY. CONNECTION COUNTER FOR TELEPHONE LINES.

(Application filed Jan. 9, 1897-) (N0 Model.)

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NiTzEn STATES PAT FRANK R. MOBERTY, OF DOWNERS GROVE, ILLINCIS, ASSIGNORTO THE WVESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CONNECTION-COUNTER FOR TELEPHONE-LINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 641,400, dated January16, 1900. Application filed January 9,1897. Serial No. 618,535. (Nomodel.)

.ners Grove, in the county of Du Page and State of Illinois, haveinvented acertain new and useful Improvem entin Connection-Counters forTelephone-Lines, (Case No. 50,) of

which the following is a full, clear, concise,

and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing,forming a part of this specification.

The invention concerns the registering or counting of the uses of thesubstation-telephone for the purpose of basing a charge on such use. Itis designed to count only completed connections which attain response atthe called station. The invention consists in the combination, with twotelephone-lines, means for uniting them, and means for determining theflow of current in one of the lines in the use of the telephone, ofcounting or registering mechanism and an electromagnet for actuating it,the electromagnet being responsive to or controlled through the agencyof the current produced in the called line by the use of the telephoneat the station thereof. The invention may be readily applied in exchangesystems in which signals associated with the lines in a switchboard areoperated incidentally in the use of the station-telephones, respondingto currents controlled in the lines through the opening or closing ofswitches moved in the use of the telephones. In an ordinary type of suchsystem a battery or other source of current is applied to eachtelephone-line. The line-circuit is normally interrupted at thesubstation as to continuous currents, but is closed by the telephoneswitch when the receiving-telephone is removed from it for use. Inassociating the present invention with such a system thecounter-controlling electromagnet may be so connected with thelink-conductors for uniting lines as to be brought into circuit with thecalled line and to receive current from a source when the telephoneatthe correspondent station is in use. The counting mech anism may becontrolled by this magnet through the medium of an additional magnet ina local circuit permanently associated with the calling line. Adevice isprovided whereby this latter magnet is' permitted to respond andexercises its function only once during each connection, its circuitsbeing changed in its first act to prevent its subsequent oper- 5 5ation, in order that it may not count the same use of the telephone morethan once.

The attached drawing represents this invention in conjunction with aswitchboard and automatically-operated signals therein-6o of the typementioned.

The apparatus at the substation comprises the usual polarizedsignal-bell a in a closed bridge of the line, together with a condensera forinterru ptin g the continuity of this bridge as to continuouscurrent, a transmitting-telephone a and a receiving-telephone (Ltogether with a switch a, constructed to close the circuit of the linethrough the telephones when the switch is relieved from the weight of 7cthereceiving-telephone. Theline conductors 1 and 2 extend to aswitchboard in a central office, where they are connected with aspringjack 1) and with terminals of the windings of a signal-controllingrelay 0. the windings of this relay they are led to the poles of abattery 61. The spring-contacts of the spring-jack b cooperate withtheir contact-anvils to break these extensions of the line conductors tothe relay when a plug is inserted into the spring-jack. Theswitchcontacts of the relay 0 control a local circuit 3, which includesa signal-lamp e, which is associated with the spring-jack of the lineand represents the line in the switchboard. The

usual connecting-plugsf and f are provided in the switchboard foruniting the springjacks of two lines. Each plug has two linecontacts,which are constructed to'register with the line-springs of a spring-jackinto 0 which it may be inserted, and a sleeve g to make connection witha special thimble h in the spring-jack.

The line-contacts of the plugs of a pair are united through conductors 4and 5, which con- 5 stitute the plug-circuit. The usual callingkey t'for looping a source of calling-current into circuit with plug f and alistening-key k for bringing the operators telephone into connectionwith the plug-circuit are asso- 10o ciated with the plugs. Wires 6 and'7 lead from conductors 4 and 5, respectively, to the After traversing75 poles of the battery d. These wires include the two windings of arelay Z, which controls a local circuit, including a clearing out signalm, the appliance being adapted to cause the illumination of theclearing-out signal when the relay becomes inert. Another relay 1?. isinterposed in the conductor 5 of the plug-circuit between the point ofconnection therewith of wire 7 and the plug f. This relay controls asupervisory signal 0, which is associated with the plug f, beingarranged to close a local circuit 8 9, including the signal, when therelay is inert.

The appliances so far described constitute a usual and well-known systemof circuit connections for operating automatic signals. In associatingmy present invention with these appliances an auxiliarycounter-controlling magnet 19 is interposed in a ground branch 10 from acontact h of the spring-jack of each line. This electromagnet controlsan armature and pivoted lever 19, which plays between contact-points 1119 and which controls, through suitable mechanism, the counting orregistering wheel 12". The normal resting contactpoint p of the relay isconnected to ground. The alternate contact p is connected, through abattery q, to ground. The lever 47. of relay n being grounded throughconductor 9, including battery 7', the forward contact of this relay isconnected by a wire 12 with the sleeve g of plugf. From this conductor12 an earth branch is led, which includes a resistance-coil s. Thus thearmature of the relay, oscillating between its back and forwardcontact-points, closes the circuit of battery 4' alternately to theconductor 8 to light the lamp 0 and to the wire 12, terminating in theplug.

The operation of the system, including the counting mechanism, is asfollows: A subscriber requiring connection with another removes hisreceiving-telephonefrom its switch for use. This act permits currentfrom battery (Z to flow in the line, which excites the relay 0 anddisplays the line-signal e. The operator, answering, inserts plug f inthe spring-jack of the line and brings her telephone into connectionwith the plug-circuit to learn the subscribers order. The insertion ofthe plug in the spring-jack cu ts off the connection of the line withthe relay, and thus permits the extinction of the lamp e. The same actmakes a circuit through conductors 9, 12, and 10, including the magnet19', the lever 19 being connected directly to earth through the restingcontact 13 of the armature-lever. The current created in the conductorsof the plug-circuit by battery (1 causes the excitement of relay Z andbrings about the extinction of the clearing-out signal m. In completingthe connection the operator inserts the plug f into the spring-jack ofthe line called for and rings the bell at the station of that line bymeans of key 41 in the usual way. It will be observed that the insertionof the calling-plug into the spring-jack of the called line does notcomplete any connection with the counting mechanism of that line. Whenthe subscriber called responds to the signal and removes his telephonefrom its switch for use, the relay it attracts it armature and connectsthe battery 1 to the conductor 12, whereby current is supplied throughthe magnet 19. This magnet attracting its armature operates theregistering or counting mechanism 19 and at the same time brings itsarmature-lever into connection with battery g. This latter battery nowhas a circuit through the magnet 19 and through the resistance-coil s toearth. Hence subsequent movements of the armature of relay 01, cannotmaterially affect the current through the magnetp. It will be understoodthat magnet 02 is responsive to each act of the subscriber at the calledstation in replacing his telephone on its switch or removing ittherefrom, each replacement of the tele-' phone being signalized by thelighting of the lamp 0. The response of the called sub- .scriber isregistered but once by the connec tion-counter, however. \Vhen bothsubscribers replace their telephones on their switches, the currentsthrough both relays Z and n are interrupted and both lamps m ando becomelighted. The lighting of the clearing-out signal an is a signal fordisconnection and is followed by the removal of plugs f and f from thespring-jacks of the line. The removal of plug f breaks the connectionbetween wires 10 and 12, and thus interrupts the current from battery qthrough magnet 19. Hence this magnet releases its armature, which fallsback in readiness to register a new completed connection.

It will be obviousthat the operation of the connection-counter by thetelephone-switch of the called line is not an essential matter. It mightbe operated equally well by any other appliance automatically ornecessarily operated in the use of the station-telephone and acting tochange the character or strength of current in the line to affect amagnet con nected with the line at the central office. Similarly,numerous other arrangements of the mechanism and the circuits thereof inthe switchboard might be made without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

The following claims define the invention:

1. The combination with two telephonelines and means for uniting them,of a connection-counter associated with one of the lines, circuitconnections of the said counter and means at the substation of the otherline for rendering said circuit connections operative to actuate thecounter, as described.

2. The combination with two telephonelines and means for uniting them,of a connection-counter associated with one of the lines, a magnetcontrolling the counter connected with the other line and responsive tocurrent therein, and a switch at said secondmentioned line actuated inthe use of the telephone at the station thereof and determining the flowof current in the line to control the said magnet, as described.

3. The combination with two telephonelines, a connection-socket for eachline and plugs and a plug-circuit uniting the sockets, of aconnection-counter permanently associated with one line having acontrolling-magnet, means for producing current in the called linecontrolled bya switch, and circuit connections including the saidcounter-controlling magnet extended through the agency of the plug andsocket of the corresponding 'line to bring said magnet under the controlof current in the called line, as described.

4. The combination with two telephonelines, a switch for each line atthe substation and means for producing current in the line controlled bythe switch, and link conductors for uniting the lines, of aconnection-counter associated with each line and circuit connectionsclosed in the operation of uniting the lines by means of saidlink-conductors adapted to bring the counter-controlling magnet of oneline into association with the other line to respond to current therein,substantially as described.

5. The combination with two telephonelines, sockets for the lines, plugsand a plugcircuit for uniting the sockets, the lines having means attheir stations for determining the flow of current in the line-circuitsduring the use of the telephones, of a connectioncounter for each lineand a magnet controlling the counter, a magnet connected with the calledline and responsive to current therein, and local-circuit connectionsincluding the magnet of the counting mechanism and controlled jointly bysaid magnet in connection with the called line and by registeringswitchcontacts of the plug and socket of the calling line, substantiallyas described.

6. The combination with two telephonelines, means for uniting them, andmeans for producing current in each line during the use of thecorresponding telephone, of a connection-counter permanently associatedwith one line, a magnet controlling the counter connected withthecircuit of the other line and responsive to current therein, mechanismactuated by said magnet in its first movement adapted to preventsubsequent actuation of the counter, and means for rendering saidmechanism inoperative, as described.

7. The combination with two telephonelines, means for producing currentin the lines during their use, sockets for the lines and plugs and aplug-circuit for uniting the sockets, of a connection-counter associatedwith each line, an actuating-magnet for the counter and circuitconnections including the magnet completed through registering contactsof the answering-plug and the springjack into which it is inserted, arelay connected with the called line responsive to current thereincontrolling the local circuit, and means actuated in the first responseof said relay adapted to prevent subsequent breaking of the localcircuit excepting at said plug and socket, as described.

8. The combination with two telephonelines and a switch at each stationto close the circuit during the use of the telephone, a socket for eachline, an answering-plug in one of the sockets, a calling-plug in theother socket, a plug-circuit uniting the plugs, and a source of currentin a bridge of the united circuits, of a connection-counter associatedwith the calling line having a controllingmagnet, a local circuitincluding the said controlling-magnet and completed in registeringcontacts of the answering plug and socket, a relay connected in thecircuit of the called line between the source of current and the stationthereof controlling the local circuit, and switch-contacts actuated inthe closure of said local circuit closing circuits adapted to preventsubsequent actuation of I the said controlling-magnet, whereby theresponse of the called subscriber causes the operation of the counter,as described.

9. The combination with two telephonelines, spring-jacks for thelines,an answeringplug and a calling-plug for making connection with thespring-jacks, and a plug-circuit uniting the plugs, of aconnection-counter associated with one of the lines, circuit-connectionswith the answering-plug closed in registering switch-contacts of thesaid plug and a spring-jack adapted to actuate the counter; whereby thecounter of the answered line alone is operated, as described.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 11th day ofDecember, A. D. 1896.

FRANK R. MCBERTY.

